On What Grounds Did the Court Suspend Gagik Tsarukyan's Hotel Construction?

A few days ago, the leader of the Prosperous Armenia Party, Gagik Tsarukyan, presented documents to journalists regarding the construction permit for the building located at Abovyan Street 5, which had been suspended by a court ruling.

Later, the spokesperson for the city mayor, Hakob Karapetyan, emphasized that the permit actually pertained to architectural project approval, and that a construction permit was necessary to commence building. However, after the architectural project approval, a citizen filed a lawsuit, which led to the suspension of the construction.

ArmDaily.am has succeeded in finding the lawsuit in the “Datalex” information system, which resulted in the hotel's construction being suspended. According to the judicial information system, the Administrative Court of the Republic of Armenia, presided over by Judge Artur Avagyan, had accepted the application of citizen Anna Martirosyan against the Yerevan Municipality on February 19, 2018. Anna Martirosyan demanded the invalidation of construction permits numbered 01/18-80609-1266 dated December 19, 2017, and 01/18-10116-140 dated February 16, 2018.

In the case, third parties were identified as “Multi Group” Concern LLC, “A.A.D Hotel” LLC, and Davit Mantashyan. Anna Martirosyan owns property at 3 Abovyan Street, Yerevan.

The court granted her request, justifying the decision on the grounds that the design permits (architectural planning tasks) and the resulting construction permits issued to the community of Yerevan on December 19, 2017, and February 16, 2018, were granted without regard to the requirements stipulated by urban planning and fire safety regulations.

The court recorded that the evidence in this case confirmed that the distance between the property owned by Anna Martirosyan at 3 Abovyan Street and the buildings owned by “Multi Group” Concern LLC, “A.A.D Hotel” LLC, and Davit Mantashyan at 5/1, 5/2, and 5/5 Abovyan Street is approximately one meter, a fact verified by an inspection conducted on May 22, 2018.

During the proceedings, both parties acknowledged that the existing structure at this one-meter distance is one-story high; however, the distance from the main structure is approximately 4.5 meters. Meanwhile, the Court states that the facts of this case confirm that the fire resistance of the property owned by plaintiff Anna Martirosyan does not comply with classes I and II, and corresponds to classes III or IV, whereby the fire separation distance between public buildings should, according to the construction norms “HN 21-01-2014 on Fire Safety of Buildings and Structures” and “HN 30-01-2014 on Urban Planning,” be at least 8 meters.

The conclusions stated in the letter No. K-001-01-18 from the head of the independent forensic expert center “Kryagate” dated January 20, 2018, further reinforce the aforementioned conclusions, indicating that the separation distance between buildings must be 8-10 meters according to the III or IV degree characteristics of the fire resistance of the building at 3 Abovyan Street, which is not maintained, particularly in the area adjacent to the building's rear entrance.

During the proceedings, the representative of the defendant indicated that there was no coordination with the State Fire and Technical Safety Inspection of the RA Ministry of Emergency Situations in the administrative case materials. Furthermore, the construction norms regarding the anti-seismic separation between the buildings are also not observed, as the anti-seismic separation between the buildings in question is not provided for the entire height.